Dramatic lighting effects, once the exclusive province of theatrical venues has increasingly expanded to other sites. Expectations have grown in architectural lighting, in the illumination of displays and in other settings for a wide range of lighting moods and effects, both static and dynamic.
Remarkable advances in stage and tour lighting have been made over the past decade, exemplified by automated luminaires such as those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,392,187; 4,602,321; 4,980,806; 5,073,847 and 5,186,536 (incorporated herein by reference along with the design applications of Timothy D. Stacey et al. assigned to the assignee of this application and filed concurrently herewith.
Indeed, luminaires embodying these advances have recently been honored with Emmy awards.
As the capabilities of these systems grew, so grew the applicability of their effects and the demand for their use. Low cost, compact and user-friendly luminaires that possess the powerful features of entertainment lighting, and support wide application, would enable expansion from the theatrical arena into the architectural and other fields.
Thus, it would be highly desirable to make the lighting effects created by theatrical instruments accessible to other applications, and indeed to any other environment which can be enhanced by creative lighting effects. However, a number of obstacles confront this endeavor. Automated luminaires are relatively large and for that reason are not suited for many applications. They are heavy as well, again limiting their utility in environments where only lighter objects can safely be mounted.
Installation, operation and service demands also create obstacles in applications where the requisite skills and/or resources are not available.
Finally, cost is a formidable factor which bars the current technology from many areas. Luminaires cost many thousands of dollars, putting them beyond the reach of many users who could otherwise exploit their impressive effects.